Every year at Prep, Winter Wonder Week brings holiday spirit to the school campus as we prepare for midterms and winter break. The 2024 Winter Wonder Week featured different perks each day for students to enjoy during the last weeks of first semester. The holiday season was also filled with many different concerts and performances, giving students a chance to showcase their incredible talents! Prep’s Winter Music and Dance concert took place in early December, bringing amazing music and choreography to the Prep community. 

Winter Wonder Week Activities

• On Monday, students could grab a steaming cup of hot cocoa between classes. The warm, chocolatey beverage gave me a moment of comfort before stepping into my next class.
• Tuesday offered a chance to decorate and eat your own Christmas cookie. With lots of frosting and sprinkles to choose from, some students got very creative with just how many things they could pile on top of a very small cookie. 
• The classic red and white striped Christmas treat was handed out on Wednesday for anybody to enjoy, or even save and hang on a Christmas tree. 
• On Thursday, the holiday spirit was brought to morning meeting, where a gingerbread house-making competition was held between the middle school, freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and faculty. Two representatives from each grade level were given the length of two Christmas songs to construct the best gingerbread house. With Mr. Roy as the judge closely examining each gingerbread house, the sophomores won the competition (woo hoo!) and were awarded pack points for their efforts. 
• Part of the campus was also transformed into a winter wonderland! Prep brought snow straight to campus and created a slide for students to sled down. Many students (including myself) were able to forget about any stress and just enjoy the afternoon in the snow. The week ended with peppermints being handed out to students as they prepared for midterms and winter break.

Winter Week Performances

Prep’s Winter Dance Concert occurred on Friday and Saturday night, December 6th and 7th. The dance concert featured the dance classes: Dance 1, Dance 2, and Dance Company, as well as Hip Hop Club, Middle School Dance Company, and multiple auditioned pieces. The theme of the concert was Anatomy-in-Motion, and students took unique approaches to the subjects behind their dances. Some of the dances were titled “Dehydration”, “Lungs”, “Skin”, “Tears”, “Fracture”, “Rumination”, and “Injury.” Many of the dances explored the importance of our body and how powerful it can truly be. The dance concert was certainly a success, and the Prep community could see all of the work the performers put in to create their amazing dances! 

The Winter Music Concert, featuring the choral, orchestral, and jazz groups, happened on December 14. The concert began with the 8th grade instrumental and vocal music classes performing songs. The Flintridge singers then performed “This Little Babe”, “Hine Ma Tov”, and “Ad Astra” before combining with the 8th grade vocal class and community chorus to sing more songs. Act two of the concert started with the orchestra class performing “Pavane”, “Cumberland Cross”, and “Enchanted”. Community orchestra then performed two pieces before the community chorus joined them to perform “The Rainbow Connection” and “Mr. Blue Sky” When reflecting on the music concert, Gabriel Shaw ‘27, who performed in the jazz band and community orchestra said, “I thought it was really remarkable how even though the community orchestra only met once a week, we were able to make our music sound cohesive and we performed well.” 

Following the Orchestral and Choral Concert, the jazz musicians took the stage, as the Jazz Band performed jazz classics and standards such as Duke Ellington’s “C Jam Blues” and the famous “Autumn Leaves” which has been played by jazz stars such as Miles Davis, Roger Williams, and more. The band truly embodied the jazz groove and showed Prep the meaning of jazz. After that, the Jazz Rock Band lit up the room with their electric feel and grand performance. They performed some hit songs such as Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” as they showed everyone their take on jazz rock. This concluded the Winter music concert, which proved to be a major success!

Prep’s Winter Wonder Week gave students the opportunity to enjoy some final moments with friends before midterms and winter break. The Winter Dance Concert and Winter Music Concert allowed students to showcase the incredible hard work they had put in all semester. Winter Wonder Week perfectly set up the winter break each student looked forward to as the semester came to a close.